Sri Lanka captain Dinesh Chandimal has pleaded not guilty to breaching Article 2.2.9 of the International Cricket Council’s code of conduct and a hearing will be held following the conclusion of the ongoing cricket Test against the West Indies.

India’s MS Dhoni on Friday completed 600 catches as a wicket-keeper in his career across all formats. Hashim Amla became his 600th victim. Dhoni became the third wicket-keeper in the world to achieve the feat and is only behind Mark Boucher and Adam Gilchrist. Let us have a look at top five wicket-keepers with most catches in an international career.

Consistency is most important part of any game. Cricket is no different. A batsman is mostly judged by the runs they make or the centuries they have to their name. The greatness of any batsmen for sure is defined by the number of centuries he has scored or the match-winning innings he has played. Here are players with the most number of international tons to their name.

Martin Guptill on Friday became the leading run-getter in the Twenty 20 Internationals after the Kiwi opener smashed a brilliant 105 runs in just 54 balls against Australia. His scintillating innings included six fours and nine sixes. However, in Australia won the match but Guptill innings was a class apart and that helped him to enter the record books. Let us look at the top five run-getters in the shortest format of the game.

There is a famous saying that records are meant to be broken. But when we look at these cricketing records one has to think will these records be ever broken. Let us have a look at some records which will be very tough to be broken.

SLC confirmed about the received letter from players on Friday, signed by national players including Dinesh Chandimal and Upul Tharanga, requesting the board to probe the “baseless allegations” by former cricketer and selector Pramodya Wickramasinghe.

Sri Lanka cricket are going through a turbulent time at the moment. But they have produced some wonderful cricketers in the past, who have won them many laurels. However, there have been very few players, who have belonged to one particular ethnic group called Burghers.

Who are the Burghers? Burghers are Portuguese, Dutch, and other Europeans, who settled in Sri Lanka. According to the census in Sri Lanka in 1981, the Burgher population in Sri Lanka was 39,374, which is about 0.2 percent of the country’s total population, out of which 0.72 percent are from the capital city of Colombo.

According to Wikipedia, “Burghers were defined as those whose father was born in Sri Lanka, with at least one European ancestor on one’s direct paternal side, regardless of the ethnic origin of one’s mother, or what other ethnic groups may be found on the father’s side.”

Cricket connection: Sri Lanka has produced three international cricketers, who are from the Burgher descent. Here is the list:

Graeme Labrooy: Labrooy played 9 Tests and 44 ODIs for Sri Lanka between 1986 to 1992. The right-arm medium pace bowler picked up 45 wickets from 44 ODIs, while in Tests, he picked up 27 wickets from 9 matches. He was also a handy lower-order batsman with a First-Class average of 20.53. He is currently serving as a ICC match referee. His brother Wendell Labrooy played 80 First-Class matches and 32 List A matches, but has never represented Sri Lanka.

3 sixes hit by Hardik Pandya, the most by an Indian on Test debut. Previous best was 2, jointly held by Balwinder Sandhu, Vijay Yadav, Suresh Raina and Shikhar Dhawan.

102.04 strike-rate of Pandya’s innings of 49-ball 50. This is the 2nd best strike-rate among Indian on debut Test innings with 50-run cut-off after Dhawan’s 174-ball 184 (107.47). Overall, Pandya stands at 5th in the list.

6 Indian batsmen to have scored in excess of 50 on their debut Test at number 8 or below before Pandya. He becomes 7th in the list after Amar Singh, Dattu Phadkar, Coimbatarao Gopinath, Deepak Shodhan, Sandhu and Stuart Binny.

7.29 scoring rate of 62-run partnership for 9th wicket between Pandya and Mohammed Shami. This is the best scoring rate for 9th wicket stand by an Indian pair with 50-run cut-off. Overall, this is the 7th best.

6-wicket haul for Sri Lankan pacer Nuwan Pradeep for the first time in Tests. Previously, he had taken 6 four-wicket haul in Tests. He became the 2nd Lankan pacer to claim a 6-wicket haul against India after Rumesh Ratnayake in 1985.

Sri Lanka’s Asela Gunratne has been ruled out of the remainder of the Galle Test due to a thumb injury.

Gunaratne hurt his thumb while trying to catch a ball at second slip. The drop catch was the salt on the injury, literally, as Gunaratne had to be taken off the field. While going back to the dressing room, he looked in great pain.

Shikhar Dhawan made good use of the opportunity as he scored a magnificent century. He was on 31 when his catch was dropped. He went on to score 190 runs on Day One, one of his fastest Test knocks, as it turned out to be.

The injury was so serious that Gunaratne had to be rushed to Colombo for an operation. This new development means that Sri Lanka will be without one batsman when they come out to bat. This will give more worry for stand-in captain Rangana Herath who is struggling with his bowlers to pick all Indian wickets.

Indian captain Virat Kohli chose to bat after winning the toss on the first day of the first Test between India and Sri Lank at Galle. He then announced the two changes in the playing XI in form of Hardik Pandya and Abhinav Mukund. When KL Rahul had fallen ill, it was guessed that he will be replaced by Mukund in the playing XI as another opener Shikhar Dhawan was expected to be the more certain opener in the playing XI.

However, Kohli, at the toss, surprised everyone by saying that it Dhawan has replaced Rahul. By his statement, it appears that Mukund was Kohli’s first choice as an opener and if Rahul had not fallen ill, it would have been him and Mukund opening the innings for India and not Rahul and Dhawan.

A tiny land in the Indian subcontinent wrote history, beating one of the biggest continents in the world, in the map as well in the cricketing universe, Australia. Sri Lanka registered their name in the history books when they won the 1996 ODI World Cup, out of nowhere.

The members of this winning squad became the heroes of the country. People started looking up to these men, dressed in dark blue, sparkling hopes in a million that they belonged somewhere in the world thanks to this game called cricket. One wonders what would have happened to Sri Lanka if they did not play cricket? Who would have known that Sri Lanka exists on the world map if they did not play cricket and produced some of the legends of the game?

Sri Lanka have appointed Hashan Tillakaratne has been appointed as the batting coach of the national team. Hashan has scored 4545 runs in 83 Tests he has played for Sri Lanka at an average of 49.26.

Sri Lankan team manager Asanka Gurusinha said that the experience of Hashan will come in handy for the players. He said, “Hashan has been with us since the recent Test match against Zimbabwe, actually. At this stage, for all the Tests he will be the batting coach. Most probably after the Indian series, we’ll discuss with coach Nic Pothas and see what’s happening from there. With all his experience, there is a lot the batsmen can learn from him.”

The first Test between India and Sri Lanka set to take place in Galle on July 26 will be a litmus test for Indian captain Virat Kohli who has a new coach at his disposal. Like Kohli pointed out before leaving for Sri Lanka that the island nation holds a special place for the team as it was there that foundation of India’s Test success was laid.

All eyes on Hardik Pandya

Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya is expected to play in the final XI in the first Test in Galle. Kohli, addressing the press on the eve of the match, hinted of Hardik Pandya’s debut on Wednesday. He said, “We got a guy like Hardik Pandya, who has a knack of picking wickets. He has a great chance of playing as well. That gives us the balance. The extra batsman gave us more solidarity. We have taken learnings from that and we will surely apply that straight away into the series. It is very important to have your strike bowlers to be able to pick up wickets.”

India and Sri Lanka lock horns in the first Test at the Galle International Stadium. India will have a major challenge ahead of them in the series as Sri Lanka are known to be an extremely strong unit at home, despite their recent slide. This will be India’s first game since Ravi Shastri’s appointment as India head coach and they will be determined this new era under Shastri off to the perfect start

Both sides will have two major players missing. While Sri Lanka will be without Dinesh Chandimal, India will be without their frontline opener KL Rahul. Chandimal took over from Angelo Mathews as Sri Lanka Test captain just ahead of the one-off Test against Zimbabwe. Rahul, who has been battling shoulder injury for sometime now, sees himself sidelined due to viral fever.

The first Test of the three-match series between Sri Lanka and India will be played at Galle International Stadium. This is India’s second tour of Sri Lanka for a Test series after 2015. India are currently top side in ICC Test rankings and would look to maintain it by winning another series in Sri Lanka. Ahead of the first Test of the series, here are some interesting numbers to look out for.

1 win for India at Galle International Stadium in four Tests. Their only win at Galle came in 2008, courtesy Virender Sehwag’s double ton in first innings, while their defeats came in 2001, 2010 and 2015.

17 wins for Sri Lanka at Galle in Tests from 29 Tests. This is the 2nd most successful venue for Sri Lanka in Tests after SSC Colombo, where they have won 19 out of 40 Tests. Moreover, their win percentage of 58.62% is the best across all venues with 5-Test cut-off.

Ahead of the first Test of the three-match series in Sri Lanka, India’s ace spinner Ravichandran Ashwin opens up on playing his 50th Test, preparations and many more things. The first Test of the series will be played at Galle International Stadium, where Ashwi had scalped 10-wicket haul, when he played last time at this venue in 2015. Although, despite his 10-wicket haul, India lost the Test by 63 runs. However, India won the series by 2-1 and Ashwin bagged Man of the Series award for taking 21 wickets in three Tests.

“To comeback to a place, where we did really well, I mean did really well last time in 2015 is like a dream come true because it was some sort of momentus occasion for me then as I was on the way back in the Test side and I got a 10-for here. I mean I got a 6-fer on the first day and then went on to get a 10-for on the 3rd day and it brings back a lot of memories,” said Ashwin.

Indian Test opener KL Rahul looks to be a doubtful starter for the first Test against Sri Lanka on July 26 in Galle. A Sri Lankan journalist posted on his Twitter account, that the opener is a doubtful starter for the first game.
Rahul had earlier said that in an interview that he was not 100 percent confident about his body in his mind after healing from his injury. He had said, earlier, “Yes, I am still very nervous. The body is still very unsure and it keeps holding me back every time. That’s the biggest challenge coming back from injury. You know that you are physically fit and you have done everything that you can, worked really hard, you are feeling stronger, you are feeling fitter. But the mind always tells you what if it happens again, what if you have to go through the same grind for three months, what if your shoulder is not ready, what if you come back early?”

Sri Lanka have announced their 15-man squad for the upcoming Test series against India for the first Test at Galle, scheduled to begin from July 26. As expected, Rangana Herath will lead the side in the match in place of Dinesh Chandimal, who is recovering from pneumonia.

Upul Tharanga addressed the press conference ahead of the 2-day practice match in the absence of Chandimal, which increased the speculation of the captain’s fitness. Sri Lanka might be without Chandimal even in the second Test. The 2-day practice match between India and Sri Lanka Board Presidents XI ended in a draw, but India got good work out.

India have already kicked off their Sri Lanka tour with a 2-day practice match against the Sri Lanka Board Presidents XI. All their bowlers and batsmen got a good work out and India look set to take on the challenge Sri Lanka pose. However, it will be different ball game altogether when they take on the full fledged Sri Lanka side. India have picked a talented side, who can repeat what they did in 2015, when the came from 1-0 down to win the three-match series 2-1. India have many combinations they can try in the tournament. Lets us now take a look at all of them.

It is no secret that Virat Kohli likes to play five bowlers in his XI. If that is the case. He has the option of going in with three spinners and two fast bowlers, two spinners, and three fast bowlers. Or he can just go in with three spinners and one fast bowler, if the situation demands. There is no secret that India have depth in their bowling. Regardless of the pitch conditions, it is certain that the World No. 1 Ravindra Jadeja and the No. 3 all-rounder Ashwin will certainly get a game. Ashwin picked up 21 wickets with his off-spin last time they were in Sri Lanka.

India resumed the second day of the two-day practice match against Sri Lanka Board Presidents XI comfortably placed at 135 for 3, still trailing by 52 runs. India had Virat Kohli and his deputy Ajinkya Rahane at the crease and were going well.

Kohli retired hurt on 53 on Day Two, followed by Rahane, who decided to head back to the pavilion after scoring 40. Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan came out to bat at No. 6 and 7 respectively. The too cashed in on their opportunities. Rohit retired out for 38, while Dhawan, who was brought in as replacements for Murali Vijay struck a quick-fire 41. Wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha hit a 40-ball 36. the only two wickets Sri Lanka Board Presidents XI managed to pick up was that of Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja, who scored 11 and 18 respectively.

For years, Amit Mishra has always lived under the shadows of some bowler or the other. At the beginning of his career, it was Anil Kumble and then later on in was under Ravichandran Ashwin. Now, as the years have rolled on, the emergence Kuldeep Yadav as reduced Mishra perhaps a fourth or fifth choice bowler. Ravindra Jadeja and Ashwin are India’s lead spinners, but the place for a third spinner has always been up for grabs.

The competition earlier was between Mishra and off-spinner Jayant Yadav, but with Kuldeep being preferred by Virat Kohli, it is unlikely that we might see Mishra back in the Indian team.

Indian Test opener KL Rahul may have recuperated from injury but he is still unsure about his body, he said in an interview given to BCCI.tv. Rahul said that he is still very nervous and the body still keeps holding him back.

“Yes, I am still very nervous. The body is still very unsure and it keeps holding me back every time. That’s the biggest challenge coming back from injury. You know that you are physically fit and you have done everything that you can, worked really hard, you are feeling stronger, you are feeling fitter. But the mind always tells you what if it happens again, what if you have to go through the same grind for three months, what if your shoulder is not ready, what if you come back early?”

On July 22, 2010, Muttiah Muralitharan represented Sri Lanka for the last time in white jersey in the longest and oldest format of the game. The Sri Lankan legend, who made his debut back in 1992 had an interesting yet fairytale ending to his Test career. When he announced his retirement from Tests cricket, just before the first Test of his final series, which was played against India at Galle International Cricket Stadium, he had 792 wickets. It almost seemed that Muralitharan might not touch the 800-wicket mark in Test but he somehow did it and in style.

With 8 wickets away from the milestone mark, Muralitharan scalped his 67th five-wicket haul in Tests in India’s first innings and inched to 797. He began his final Test too in style by getting the wicket of legendary Sachin Tendulkar as his first of that match.

Ahead of the three-Tests series against Sri Lanka, visitors India took on Sri Lanka Board President’s XI in the only 2-day practice match at Tyronne Fernando Stadium, Moratuwa. Indian spinners Ravindra Jadeja and chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav dismantled SL Board President’s batting line-up as they were bowled out for mere 187. In reply, India did not have a great start but opener KL Rahul’s quick-fire 54 from 58 balls bailed the side out afte they lost Abhinav Mukund for a first-ball duck. Towards the end of day, skipper Virat Kohli along with Ajinkya Rahane continued batting at a brisk rate and ensured they have a stronghold in match with the score of 135 for 3 in 30 overs, trailing by 52 runs.

Lahiru Thirimanne, who was leading Sri Lanka’s Board President’s, scored an applaudable 59 off 125. However, the biggest positive from the hosts batting was opener Danushka Gunathilaka, who played a counter-attacking knock of 97-ball 87, which included 11 fours. This knock may help Gunathilaka secure his place in playing XI of the first Test in the absence of Dinesh Chandimal.

The India-Sri Lanka 3-match Test series is all set to commence at Galle from July 26. In the recent past, whenever the two teams have met in the format there have been some really engaging cricket on offer. We can expect much the same from the upcoming series.

For now, here is looking at five things to look forward to in the India-Sri Lanka Test series.

India’s batting class:

By sheer batting class it has in its team, India will have the upper hand in the Test series. In fact, the splendor of their batting line-up will be something that Test cricket fans will relish in the series. Classy opener KL Rahul is followed by the gritty Cheteshwar Pujara, the dynamic Virat Kohli and the elegant Ajinkya Rahane. All these four batsmen have been superb in Test cricket in recent times and when in flow, they are the best sights to watch. Then there is the aesthetically pleasing Ravichandran Ashwin who, along with Ravindra Jadeja, have been leading the charge of India’s lower-middle order and have bailed India out of many tricky situations recently. If these were not enough, India also has the stylish Rohit Sharma in the reserves who can get a look in at some point in the series. With such overwhelming batting class in their line-up, the Indian team will be the definite crowd pleaser in this Test series.

Rangana Herath will lead Sri Lanka in the first Test against India at Galle in the absence of Dinesh Chandimal. Chandimal was admitted to hospital due to pneumonia and as a result will miss at least one Test in the three-Test series.

Herath led Sri Lanka in the two-match Test series in Zimbabwe last yeat and in a home series against Bangladesh when then captain Angelo Mathews was ruled out. However, Chandimal, who led Sri Lanka to a record breaking win in his first Test as captain against Zimbabwe a few days ago, will miss at least one Test.

“We were actually only told late last night – the blood Test came a bit late. He’s got pneumonia,” said Sri Lanka team manager Asanka Gurusinha, according to cricket.com.au. “He was admitted to hospital this morning at 9am, and he’s definitely out of the first Test. “The doctors have advised us this morning to say: ‘Finish the first Test’ and they’ll advise us afterwards. If they tell us he needs another week to recover, that’s it. We can’t do anything.”

Former fast bowler Chaminda Vaas has been appointed specialist fast bowling coach of Sri Lanka for their upcoming series against India, according to ANI. Vaas will be assisting the Sri Lankan fast bowlers during the India series.

Vaas has also been in charge of many feeder teams in the past, but this is the first time he will be assisting the senior side. However, Vaas has had short stints with the senior New Zealand and Ireland sides between 2013 to 2015. Vaas has represented Sri Lanka in 111 Tests and has picked up 355 wickets, while in the ODIs he picked up 400 wickets from 322 matches.

India will tour Sri Lanka for a three Tests, five ODIs and a one-off T20I, which will begin from July 26 at Galle. While India will be led by Virat Kohli, Sri Lanka captain Dinesh Chandimal will surely miss the first Test and is doubtful for the second Test as well. In Chandimal’s absence, it is highly likely that Upul Tharanga will lead the side. Although, in the absence of the regular captain, it was spinner Rangana Herath, who lead Sri Lanka in Zimbabwe.

Indian captain Virat Kohli has a word of advice for the openers Shikhar Dhawan and Abhinav Mukund before the Test series against Sri Lanka. Dhawan was the last minute inclusion into the side in place of injured Murali Vijay. With Mukund in the squad, there are three openers and the last call will be with Virat Kohli as to whom he chooses to open the innings along side KL Rahul.

Kohli sees these scenarios as a learning curve for all of the contenders for the opening position, pointing out that even Pujara opened in the Dharamsala Test. He said, “Abhinav (Mukund) is there, he has played a lot of domestic cricket. Shikhar got a hundred here last time and then he had to miss a couple of games.

“(Cheteshwar) Pujara opened in the last Test (in Dharamsala). So guys are looking at these scenarios as opportunities rather than getting under pressure. I am sure they are going to be up for it.”

Sri Lanka Test captain Dinesh Chandimal has been ruled out of the first two Tests, due to illness. Cricbuzz reported that Chandimal has been admitted to the hospital as he is suffering from Pneumonia.

Sri Lanka cricket manager Asanka Gurusinha was quoted informing about the reason for Chandimal missing the Test. He said, “We were actually only told late last night – the blood Test came a bit late. He’s got pneumonia. The doctors have advised us this morning to say: ‘Finish the first Test’ and they’ll advise us afterwards. If they tell us he needs another week to recover, that’s it. We can’t do anything.”

Team India landed ins Sri Lanka ahead of their Test series against the hosts. They will first play a two-day practice match on Friday and will take on Sri Lanka in the first Test at Galle, beginning from July 26. Head coach Ravi Shastri, who was recently appointed the head coach of the No. 1 Test side, says that his side will not take the opposition lightly.

“You have to respect the team. If you look at their track record at home, it is as good as any side in world cricket, if not right after the best. We will not going to take them lightly. We are not going to take things for granted,” Shastri told the reporters, according to ANI.

“We would like to be consistent. So, that we keep that No.1 position in place. Above all, we will look to improve because if we don’t look to improve then there is no point in playing. We will get to try and raise the bar in every series we play,” he added.

The 3-match India-Sri Lanka Test series is all set to commence from the 26th of July. While Team India has been in excellent form in the Test format in the last season, Sri Lanka too has been doing fairly good and recently beat Zimbabwe in a historic chase. So a close and hard-fought series can be expected as a Sri Lanka at home will give tough competition to the No. 1 Test team in the world.

Both the teams have a good mix of young and experienced players that are likely to leave a mark. Here is looking at five players to watch out for in this Test series.

Cheteshwar Pujara:

With Virat Kohli going through a patchy form of late, Cheteshwar Pujara is going to be the bedrock of the Indian team this Test series. And what’s more important is that Pujara would be hungry and well-rested unlike most of the other players in the squad. His last international match was four months back and Pujara would be itching to get back in the groove. Test cricket is a format Pujara excels at and in the solitary game he has played in Sri Lanka he produced a classy match-winning 145 at Colombo in 2015. With a solid technique and a penchant for scoring big runs, Pujara would thrive on the slow, turning tracks of Sri Lanka and is bound to be one of the leading run-getters in the series. In fact, the Indian team would look to him to negate the threat of Rangana Herath and give them solid scores.

Newly appointed head coach Ravi Shastri, ahead of his team’s departure to Sri Lanka addressed the media in Mumbai along with skipper Virat Kohli. This was the first time Kohli and Shastri made a public appearance after the latter was appointed head coach.

Shastri was the Team Director when India last went to Sri Lanka and won the series 2-1. Shastri however feels that he has matured over the last two years. “I have matured since we last went to Sri Lanka. I feel have matured a lot in the last two weeks,” said Shastri at the pre-departure press conference for the series.

Shastri was picked as the head coach ahead of many other candidates like Virender Sehwag, Tom Moody and others. Shastri however asserts that he has moved on from all the drama that took place around his appointment.

“I don’t come with any baggage. The team has done exceedingly well in the last three years, they are the people who deserve credit. The Ravi Shastris and Anil Kumbles will come and go. If India are the number one Test team today, it is because of the effort of the players. People will come and go. The fabric of Indian cricket will remain,” said the former India all-rounder.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has found Sri Lanka fast bowler’s action to be legal and has given him a green signal to bowl in international cricket.

Eranga was initially reported for illegal action after Sri Lanka’s second Test against England at Chester-le-Street on May 31, 2016. Eranga underwent rehabilitation at the ICC accredited testing centre in Chennai. He then rectified it in such a way that the elbow extension in within the 15-degree level, as permitted by the ICC.

If picked in the national side, the umpires still can report Eranga, if he is displaying suspect action. To help the umpires out, images and footages have been provided to the umpires for reference.

After losing ODI series to Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka bounced back in the only Test at Colombo. Despite losing lead to Zimbabwe in first innings, Sri Lanka end up chasing a record total of 391 at home. With this record breaking Test, here are some interesting statistics from this contest.

391 runs scored by Sri Lanka while chasing against Zimbabwe in this Test. This is the highest successful chase in Asia. Previous best was 387 by India against England in 2008-09. This is also the 2nd highest successful chase by any side at home after West Indies’ 418 against Australia in 2003.

689 balls bowled by Zimbabwe in 4th innings of this Test, the most by any team in Sri Lanka on a losing cause. Previous best was 683 balls, which was also bowled by Zimbabwe in 1997-98.

Sri Lanka have chased down 388 against Zimbabwe in the one-off Test against Zimbabwe to win the match by 4 wickets. This is the fifth highest successful run chase in Tests and also the highest for Sri Lanka. Niroshan Dickwella with 81 and Asela Gunaratne with an unbeaten 80 were the stars of this match.

Zimbabwe skipper Graeme Cremer tried his best to win the match for his side, but his 4 wickets in the second innings went in vain as Sri Lanka hung in there to squeeze out a win. Sri Lanka resumed the final day at 170 for 3 with Kusal Mendis and Angelo Mathews at the crease. They needed 218 runs more to win with 7 wickets in hand. Sri Lanka would have believed that they could win this match, but needed to bat sensibly.

Mendis and Mathews fell in the opening hour of the day and Zimbabwe looked on course to complete their maiden away Test win. But that is when Dickwella and Gunaratne came together. Both looked confident right from the beginning and were scoring runs at ease. However, the turning pint of the match was when Dickwella survived a stumping when he was batting on 37. The foot seemed to be on the line, but the third umpire felt that there was some part of his foot behind the line and adjudged it not out. Dickwella had another life when wicketkeeper Regis Chakabva dropped a catch off Cremer, when the batsman was on 63.

Things are falling perfectly in place for Shikhar Dhawan. First, he had an excellent ICC Champions Trophy 2017 and then followed it up with a good tour against West Indies at the Caribbean. Now, he has been handed a chance to redeem himself even in Tests after an unfortunate injury to Murali Vijay.

With KL Rahul establishing himself as India’s first choice opener, Dhawan’s chances in the longest format was limited. Had Rahul not been injured, ahead of the ICC Champions Trophy 2017, Dhawan might not have played in the tournament as India’s first choice opener along with Rohit Sharma.

But Dhawan cashed in on Rahul’s injury in the Champions Trophy but can he do the same in the Tests, where he replaces Vijay? In Rahul’s absence, it was between Dhawan and Ajinkya Rahane for a slot in the opening position. The selectors picked Dhawan ahead of Rahane and it worked brilliantly. The one noticeable thing about Dhawan was that he was timing the ball sweetly in the Champions Trophy.

Murali Vijay has been ruled out of the upcoming Sri Lanka tour, as informed by Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). He will be replaced by India’s ODI and T20I opener Shikhar Dhawan, who missed out when the squad was announced a few days ago.

Vijay, who was had been healing his wrist after he hurt it during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy early this year doesn’t seem to be fully fit for the next challenge for the Indian team. However, the real reason for his ouster from the team is yet not revealed.

His injury has come as a blessing in disguise for Shikhar Dhawan, who after failing to perform for India at the top of the order and had to make way for KL Rahul. Dhawan has been given a life again in Tests on the back of his superb performances in the shorter versions of the game. He was phenomenal in the Champions Trophy and scored many runs on the tour of Caribbean as well.

Kumar Sangakkara Mahela Jayawardene are known for scoring tons of runs all around the world for Sri Lanka. Jayawardene is Sri Lanka’s second highest run-scorer in Tests with 11,814 runs at 49.84 with 34 hundreds and fifty half-centuries to his name. In the ODI format, Jayawardene is behind Kumar Sangakkara and Sanath Jayasuriya at third position with 12,381 runs at 33.01.

Jayawardene has led Sri Lanka in 38 Tests, 129 ODIs and 19 T20Is. He is considered to be one of the finest batsmen. Sangakkara, along with being a fine batsman himself has also kept wickets in may matches across formats. Sangakkara too has led Sri Lanka in 15 Tests, 45 ODIs and 22 T20Is. While Jayawardene ended up as the losing captain in the 2007 World Cup final against Australia, Sangakkara led Sri Lanka in the 2011 World Cup final, only to lose to India. Sangakkara also led Sri Lanka to the ICC World T20 2009 final and once again tasted defeat this time at the hands of Pakistan. Jayawardene and Sangakkara however, are very close to each other and are in fact best friends on and off the cricket field.

Sri Lanka take on Zimbabwe in the one-off Test at the R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo. Zimbabwe will be on a high after registering a 3-2 ODI series win over Sri Lanka, but the hosts on the other hand will want to quickly bounce back with a win.

Sri Lanka will be under new captain Dinesh Chandimal for the very first time in Tests. Chandimal has led Sri Lanka in ODIs and T20Is, but never in the longest format. This Test will be a great dress rehearsal for him and the entire team ahead of the three-Test series against India, which begins on July 26. Zimbabwe have not been in the best of form in Tests and will hope that the streak ends in this match.

Zimbabwe have tasted defeats in their last eight matches. Their previous series was also against Sri Lanka in Zimbabwe, where they did show glimpses of improvement, but yet went on to lose the two-match series 2-0. however, following their series win against Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka have been on a downfall, losing the series against Sri Lanka and drew the Test series against Zimbabwe at home.

The Sri Lanka Cricket Board have pledged that they will investigate and take strict actions against the culprits, after it emerged that the ground staff at the Hambantota stadium were asked to strip after Sri Lanka’s defeat to Zimbabwe in the series decider at the same venue. The staff were given trouser uniforms but were paid only after they stripped their trousers off.

A member of the ground staff told Hiru News on the incident, “They only paid us for our three days worth of work after taking our clothes. They hadn’t told us to come prepared with another set of clothes. They asked us to hand over the trousers, so we had no choice but to do that.”

Sri Lanka have announced that Dinesh Chandimal will take over the captain of the Test team while Upul Tharanga has been named as the skipper of the ODI and T20I sides. They were announced as the new captain after Angelo Mathews decided to step down as the captain of the Sri Lankan side after their series defeat against Zimbabwe.

Mathews announcing his resignation as the captain had said at the press conference, “Yes, there have been significant poor performances, and I’m humble enough to accept it. In the past also there were instances where I wanted to step down but I didn’t want to let the team down at that time, mainly because there were no replacements. The team’s interests supercede the individuals. Now there are candidates to take over, and I’m sure they will be more successful than me. I also wanted to give my successor time to build a team for the 2019 World Cup.”

Angelo Mathews has stepped down as Sri Lanka captain from all three formats. This decision comes at the wake of Sri Lanka’s 3-2 series loss at the hands of Sri Lanka at home.

Mathews-led Sri Lanka are undergoing a slump of late. They most recently crashed out of the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 in the group stage despite bearing India in the group stage. Sri Lanka have a one-off Test against Zimbabwe coming up and Sri Lankan selectors need to find a captain before that ahead of India tour.

A Test defeat against Bangladesh earlier this year and now a series loss against the 11th ranked One-Day International (ODI) team, that too at home — the ongoing phase has to be one of the worst phases in Sri Lanka Cricket since their famous World Cup triumph in 1996. The team is still in its long-stretched transition period following the retirements of the greats like Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara and the recent below par performances have exposed a serious scarcity of quality bench strength.

The timing of this unexpected downfall against Zimbabwe also has not helped their cause, as the islanders are gearing up to host India for their first ever full tour since 2008, involving matches in all three formats. The on and off the field importance of the series will be immense for the Lankans and quite rightly, here, the question arises — will Sri Lanka be competitive enough against their much fancied neighbours?

The 5-match ODI series between Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe ended in a fairy tale manner. Zimbabwe, who came to Sri Lanka for a bilateral ODI series for the first time since 1998, emerged victorious. With this series win, plenty of records were broken and created. Here are some interesting stats.

1st bilateral ODI series win for Zimbabwe against Sri Lanka. Their last ODI series win was against Ireland in 2015-16 at home. While their last overseas ODI series came against Kenya in 2008-09.

2001-02 was the last time when Zimbabwe won a overseas bilateral series win against a Test playing nation. That win came against Bangladesh.

4th team — Zimbabwe — to beat Sri Lanka at their home in an ODI series under Angelo Mathews’ captaincy after Australia, India, Pakistan and South Africa.

7th team — Sri Lanka — to lose an ODI series against Zimbabwe after India, England, Bangladesh, Kenya, Ireland and New Zealand.

1st instance of Zimbabwe winning 3 ODIs in an overseas bilateral series against a Test playing nation since 2001-02. Their last such win in 2001-02 came against Bangladesh.

After a long gap of 8 years, Sri Lanka is expected to travel India for a full fledged tour, which included 3-match Tests series, 3 ODI series and 2 T20Is as well. Sri Lanka last toured India for Test and ODI bilateral series in 2009-10. They lost the Test series by 2-0 and ODI contest by 3-1. For the first time, India will be hosting Sri Lanka for all 3 formats on a single tour.

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) too confirmed about this tour. “We are yet to confirm the schedule but the tour is confirmed,” board Secretary Mohan de Silva was quoted in a report in Sunday Times.

However, the detailed report is yet to come over this tour of Sri Lanka to India. Although, it is highly likely that the tour will start post Sri Lanka’s tour of UAE, where they face Pakistan from October 17. According to a report in Mumbai Mirror, BCCI has lined up Sri Lanka and New Zealand for November and December.

India announced their 16-man squad for the upcoming Test series against Sri Lanka on Sunday. There weren’t many surprises in the squad they picked. However, this series marks the return of Rohit Sharma in the team, after the Mumbai batsman missed out on the England and Australia series due to injuries. Abhinav Mukund too retains his place.

The recent past: India scripted history om their last tour to Sri Lanka in 2015, becoming the first team to have won a Test series in Sri Lanka since 1996. That tour also marked Kumar Sangakkara’s final series in international cricket as the left-handed batsman hung up his boots after scoring 12,400 runs for his nation. Amidst all the emotion of it being Sangakkara’s final series, it was India, thanks to R Ashwin’s 21 wickets in the three-match series, who dominated in most parts. They bounced back extremely well from their loss in the first Test Galle to win the series 2-1.

As the West Indies tour of India is almost about to complete, another cracking news related to Indian Cricket Team has arrived. BCCI has announced India’s 16-man Test squad for 3-match series in Sri Lanka, which will commence from July 26 at Galle International Stadium.

One of the major surprise in the squad is Abhinav Mukund’s inclusion, who recently made his comeback in Tests during the 2nd match of Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2016-17 at Bengaluru against Australia. Another major change is Karun Nair’s exclusion as Rohit Sharma is back in white jersey to represent India.

Sri Lanka skipper Angelo Mathews has been fined 20 percent of their match fees, while the rest of the team have been charged 10 percent of their match fees for match fees for maintaining slow over-rate in the third One-Day International (ODI) at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Stadium at Hambantota.

Sri Lanka were found 1 over short at the end of the time allowances. Sri Lanka won the match by 8 wickets and took a 2-1 lead in the five-match series. In accordance with article 2.5.1 of the ICC Code of Conducts for Players and Player Support Personnel, the players are fined 10 percent, while the captain is fined double. If Sri Lanka commit such an offence in the matches within 12 months with Mathews as captain, he will face suspension.

The Indian cricket team will have the services of a manager, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said. The BCCI sources said that the board has invited applications for the position of a cricket manager. The Indian Express wrote that only the former First-Class and international cricketers can only apply for the position of the coach.

A BCCI source was quoted saying, “Only cricketers can become managers. Cricketers who have played First-Class or international cricket. We discussed whether members who have done a good job in the past should be allowed to take part in the application process. However, we felt having cricketers as managers will help because they can understand what players’ needs are. Those cricketers who are having any post in associations can apply but will have to give up their post once picked.”

With the five-match series level at 1-1, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe clash once again in the third One-Day International (ODI) at Hambantota. There is a fear that there might be some interruption in the match due to elephants wandering on to the field as there is an elephant sanctuary nearby. However, the wardens will be deployed to ensure that the wild elephants do not enter the stadium.

The remaining three ODIs of the series will be played at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Stadium in Hambantota, which has hosted very few matches still date as it is situated in a remote location. “There had been a few instances when elephants broke through the fence and invaded the pitch at night,” said a wildlife official, who asked not to be named. “A jungle patch starts about 100 metres from the stadium and we are deploying 10 wardens to make sure that fans don’t stray into that area and provoke the elephants,” he told AFP by telephone from Hambantota.

In the second ODI of the 5-match series between Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe at Galle International Stadium, debutant Wanidu Hasaranga became 3rd cricketer to take hat-trick on debut after Taijul Islam and Kagiso Rabada. It is the same venue where Zimbabwe stunned Sri Lanka by chasing the target of 317. Hasaranga was brought in Sri Lanka in place of Akila Dhananjaya.

The debutant leg-spinner got to bowl first in the 26th over and bowled back to back overs. After bowling two overs, in order to change Hasaranga’s bowling end, he was brought in the attack back in 32nd over and then claimed the hat-trick in 34th over. Hasaranga’s first victim in his hat-trick was Malcolm Waller, when Zimbabwe were reeling at 155 for 7, followed by Donald Tiripano and Tendai Chatara. Zimbabwe skipper Graeme Cremer was the batsman to hat-trick from the non-strikers end ad remained unbeaten at 1.

What Zimbabwe did to Sri Lanka in the first ODI on Friday ha opened up this bilateral series from all ends. Sri Lankans once again showed that they can till fall just after showing signs of improvement.

The 2nd ODI is also to be played at Galle where the Sri Lanka team was embarrassed by 6 wickets in hands of Zimbabwe. The Angelo-Mathews led side know that they have a lot to prove to world cricket and things won’t help if they manage to lose to minnows like Zimbabwe.

Their bowling needs some sort of motivation. Unable to defend 300-odd total in their own playing field is a matter of concern. Sri Lanka’s fielding too needs a little tightening.

Coming to chase, riding on Solomon Mire’s match-winning knock of 112 off 96 balls along with the support of Sean Williams (65), Sikandar Raza (67*) and Malcolm Waller (40*), Zimbabwe completed the chase in 47.4 overs, having lost just 4 wickets. The winning run was hit by Raza with a six off Amila Aponso, which was also the only six in Zimbabwe’s chase. Let us have a look at some interesting statistics from Zimbabwe’s historic chase.

Zimbabwe will be playing Sri Lanka in a 5-match ODI series from June 30 in the island nation. The African country is touring Sri Lanka to play a Test match as well.

In the ODI squad, Sri Lanka have dropped their regular batsman Dinesh Chandimal from the first two ODIs due to his consistent failures with the bat. Uncapped spin allrounder Wanidu Hasaranga has been named in the 13-member team. Spinner Akila Dananjaya and seamer Lahiru Madushanka has been recalled. Also Dushmantha Chameera returns, who has not played international cricket since December 2016.

Sri Lankan batsman Dinesh Chandimal has been dropped for the first two One-Day Internationals (ODI) against Zimbabwe. Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe are scheduled to play five ODIs and one-off Test against Zimbabwe, beginning from June 30.

Sri Lanka have instead handed a maiden call-up to 19-year-old all-rounder Waindu Hasaranga in the 13-man squad. Also, Akila Dhananjaya, Lahiru Madhushanka and Dushmantha Chameera have been recalled to the squad. Chandimal has been on a poor run of form, having scored just 178 runs at 22.25, which included just 12 runs from two innings in the recently concluded ICC Champions Trophy 2017, in which Sri Lanka did not even make it past the group stages.

At the age of 39, former Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara continues his excellent-run with bat in the ongoing County Championship Division One 2017. Representing Surrey, Sangakkara played another classical knock, which came at a good pace as he scored unbeaten 180 off just 183 deliveries against Yorkshire at Leeds.

Playing his career’s last First-Class season, this is Sangakkara’s 6th century in this County season and no other batsman has even hit four so far. With this hundred, Sangakkara also became the first player to touch the 1,000-run mark in this County season, which came at staggering average of 108.6, the highest among all. Moreover, this was also Sangakkara’s first ever century at Leeds in First-Class cricket.

Sri Lanka cricket board imposed a one-year ban on fast bowler Lasith Malinga for breaching the Tour Contract. The 33-year-old had spoken to media twice despite repeated warnings from the cricket board. Malinga, in a statement given to the media, had reacted on the comment of the Sri Lankan sports minister. The minister had called the Sri Lankan players unfit during the Champions Trophy 2017.

Malinga had then said to the media, “What does a monkey know about a parrot’s nesting hollow? This is like a monkey getting into a parrot’s nest and talking about it.”

India are all set to tour Sri Lanka in July for a Test, One-Day International (ODI) and a one-off T20I. India will play three Tests, five ODIs and a single T20I. The Virat Kohli-led team are scheduled to reach Sri Lankan capital Colombo on July 19. They are likely to play a warm-up match on July 21 and 22. The first Test will be played at Pallekele between July 26 to 30. The action will then shift to Galle for the second Test, which is scheduled to be played between August 4 to 8. SSC, Colombo will host the third Test from August 12. The tour continues with an ODI series between August 24 to September 3, where the two teams will play a five-match series, followed by a T20I on September on September 6, according to dailymirror.lk

Sri Lanka legend Kumar Sangakkara notched up his 100th career century when he scored run-a-ball 121 to help Surrey beat Yorkshire by 24 runs in Quarter-Final 2 of the Royal London One-Day Cup at Headingley. This was Sangakkara’s 39th List A ton to go with his 61 First-Class centuries in his illustrious career. Sangakkara, however, is yet to get a ton in T20s, with 94 being his highest score in the shortest format. Sangakkara has been in tremendous for of late. He slammed four back-to-back centuries for Surrey in County Championship, including a double century and has continued his rich form in the shorter version of the game as well.

Sangakkara won the man of the match for his brilliant 121 as Surrey notched up 313-7 in their 0 overs. In response, Yorkshire lost wickets at regular intervals and managed to score 289-9 from the full quota of 50 overs. Sangakkara also is the first Sri Lankan player to score 100 centuries.

Captain Sarfraz Ahmed stood up when his team needed him the most, scoring a handsome 61* in the tensest of situations to lead his side Pakistan home to a famous victory over Sri Lanka in a Group B encounter of the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy. Pakistan found themselves in dire straits at 162-7 but Sarfraz established a brilliant partnership with Mohammed Amir to book Pakistan’s berth in the semi-finals of the ICC Champions Trophy, where they will take on hosts England in the semi-finals in Cardiff. Pakistan chased Sri Lanka’s score of 236 down with 3 wickets in hand and 31 balls remaining.

Pakistan won the toss and put Sri Lanka in to bat first, a decision which was justified by the steady performance of the Pakistan bowlers. They restricted Sri Lanka to a meager score of 236 all out. All the frontline bowlers for Pakistan; Mohammed Amir, Hasan Ali, Junaid Khan and Fahim Ashraf were brilliant in their spells for Pakistan never giving away an inch to the Sri Lankan batsmen.

Remember a Pakistani journalist Zainab Abbas? Well, in case you don’t don’t know, Zainab Abbas is a news presenter for Duniya News in Pakistan and it is she who became that ‘unlucky’ charm for the South African skipper AB de Villiers and the Indian sensation Virat Kohli in the ICC Champions Trophy.

Travelling back a bit, Zainab took a photograph with AB de Villiers just before the Proteas’ match against Pakistan and the 33-year-old hard-hitter went back to hut on duck and his side eventually lost. What followed next was nothing short of any sorcery. This time around, Zainab Abbas caught Indian skipper Virat Kohli and posted the photograph just before India’s encounter against Sri Lanka and there goes Virat Kohli back to the pavilion without even opening his account. And yes, India lost the encounter as well.

Zainab soon became a social media sensation and many of Twitteratis asked her to take a photograph with Sri Lanka’s skipper Angelo Mathew. The journalist accepted the task and did her job with perfection.

Indian cricket team defeated South Africa by 8 wickets on June 11 to reach the semi-finals of the ICC Champions Trophy 2017. They are expected to meet Bangladesh from Group A in the semi-final clash and India, will surely, start as the favourite team to win the match.

However, there is a good chance that India might race to the finals of the tournament if the game on June 15 against Bangladesh is washed out.

India’s net run-rate, at the moment, is a healthy 1.370, which is better than that of England’s (1.045). Bangladesh, who is expected to meet India in the June 15 clash in Edgbaston, has run-rate of 0. If the match is marred by rain and yields no result, India will automatically surge to the finals on the basis of better run-rate as there is no reserve day for the semi-finals.

Sri Lanka will face off against Pakistan in a Group B encounter of the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy at the Sophia Gardens in Cardiff, Wales with everything on the line in a match which has taken the importance of a virtual quarter-final. One could not have hoped for a better contest in the last match of the group stages as the winner of the match will take qualify for the semi-finals and will face off against England.

Nobody can predict which Pakistan team will turn up on any given day. But one would expect a charged up unit to turn out at the Sophia Gardens after their brilliant victory over South Africa through the D/L method at Edgbaston in Birmingham. Not many people gave Pakistan a chance to qualify out of the group but with India knocking South Africa out, it would be a brilliant achievement for the Pakistan team to qualify out of arguably, the tougher group in the Champions Trophy.

After Chamara Kapugedera, the Sri Lankan cricket team has been dealt a major blow as Kusal Perera has been ruled out of the ICC Champions Trophy due to injury. To fill the void, ICC’s Event Technical Committee has given a green signal to the allrounder Dhananjaya de Silva to come up as a replacement.

The left-handed batsman picked up a hamstring injury during his side’s encounter against India at The Oval on Thursday. The 26-year-old eventually went back to hut (retired hurt) while he was playing at 47. Forming a 75-run partnership with the skipper Angelo Mathews, the Lankan Lions went on to register a seven-wicket victory to their name, leaving the Men in Blue completely red-faced.

Confirming the news, Sri Lanka’s manager Asanka Gurusinha said that the injury sustained by the 26-year-old is actually worse than everyone expected it to be.

“We are not invincible,” said India captain Virat Kohli as he tried to make sense of the stunning loss to Sri Lanka despite posting, what he thought, was a winning total in their Champions Trophy clash here. India set Sri Lanka a tough target of 322, which the islanders easily chased down with seven wickets in hand.

“I personally thought that we had enough on the board at the halfway stage. And I think our bowlers also bowled decently well. If the Lankan batsmen come out and play like that and everyone plays well, you have to give credit to the opposition as well. We are not invincible,” Kohli said at the post-match media conference here last night.

“We are playing against other sides who are also champion sides (in their own rights),” he reasoned. “There’s always hindsight. I thought we bowled decently.

But when you don’t execute properly, there is always food for thought. Here you have to give credit to the other team,” Kohli added. Kohli said that rather than criticising his colleagues, he would like to compliment the kind of batsmanship displayed by Sri Lanka yesterday.

New Zealand and Bangladesh meet each other in an important game today in Cardiff. The maths is simple here, the side which wins will still be in contention for a semi-final spot. Then it will be the match between England and Australia which will decide their fate. However, the focus of these two teams should not remain on the permutations and combinations but on winning this game today.

New Zealand will clearly start as favourites. Their bowling is looking quite good and skipper Kane Williamson is in supreme touch. The Kiwis are playing good cricket but they need some sort of luck going their way too. They were cruising to a win in their first match of the tournament against Australia before rain ruined the party. In the second game, New Zealand ran out of gas while chasing against England. Bangladesh will give them the ultimate test.

India has been beaten by Sri Lankans in their second Group B clash at The Oval and as unexpected as it sounds, this is the reality. When the tournament began, almost every cricket fans had guessed that India and South Africa will be the two teams going into the semifinals. But two upsets in two days, as Pakistan beat South Africa on Wednesday and Sri Lanka defeating India on Thursday, it turns out that either India or South Africa will go into the last 4. The Pakistan versus Sri Lanka game will decide the other semi-finalist from Group B.

But wait, the bafflement and surprise might not just end there. We all know that this edition of the Champions Trophy will be known more for the rain spoiling the day than matches going down the wire. And the rains have not left England yet. It could play a huge role in deciding who goes to the semis.

In the upset of the tournament so far, Sri Lanka have stunned India in the 2017 edition of the ICC Champions Trophy at the Kensington Oval in London. Heading into the game, India were undisputed favourites to win the game but Sri Lanka never lost their spirit in a professional run chase to leave the Indian team shell-shocked. Sri Lanka chased India’s total down with 7 wickets in hand and 8 balls remaining. India will now face a virtual quarter-final against South Africa, which they will have to win to qualify into the semi-finals of the tournament.

India first, courtesy of a century by Shikhar Dhawan and half-centuries by Rohit Sharma and Mahendra Singh Dhoni registered a score of 321-6 on the board. Many people thought that after posting such a big score, the Indian bowlers would skittle out their Sri Lankan counterparts. But it wasn’t to be as India would have hoped for as a spirited Sri Lankan unit grinded the Indian bowlers out. Gunathilaka, Mendis, Perera, Mathews and Gunaratne all came up with brilliant knocks to easily chase down the India target.

One thing that always makes for a great game of cricket is the matching abilities of two teams. But what if one team out of the two fails to match the other’s team calibre? Ask Sri Lanka here, a team struggling to cope up with the pressure of international cricket. They will be meeting the in-form Indians, who have forgotten what a defeat means. Not many teams have been able to come too close to India in terms of quality across all formats. On the contrary, Sri Lanka have done just the opposite. They lack fire and juice. They have shown traces of their brilliance but have failed to release the full picture.

Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews has won the toss and elected to field first in a Group B encounter of the 2017 edition of the ICC Champions Trophy at the Oval in London. India have named an unchanged lineup heading into the match. Sri Lanka have made three changes including bringing back skipper Angelo Mathews, who is back from a long-term injury.

India will head into the match as firm favourites against an unfancied Sri Lanka side. Not many people are giving Sri Lanka much hope heading into the contest. India were brilliant in their opening game of the tournament. Sri Lanka were spirited in their game against South Africa, but in the end, their lack of quality was found out.

South Africa justified their tags as one of the favorites to win the ICC Champions Trophy by beating a Sri Lankan unit which looked under the radar for most parts in the game. South Africa put into bat first scored 299/6 in their 50 overs. Sri Lanka in reply could only put up a score of 203 all out on the board. With this, South Africa won the match by 96 runs and top Group B with the other two teams in the group, India and Pakistan facing off tomorrow.

Hashim Amla was the undisputed star of the show, being at his elegant best scoring 103 off 115 balls. In the process, he broke another record of Virat Kohli’s, becoming the quickest man in ODI history to score 25 hundreds. The pitch at the Kensington Oval was not as easy to bat on as the pitch which was on offer for the match between Bangladesh and England. The South Africa batting order boasting of some of the best stroke makers in the world could not time many deliveries and could only post 299 runs on the board.

A few days back, floods and mudslides hit the tropical island of Sri Lanka and nearly half a million people lost their homes. More than 150 people were killed, while a more than 100 were reported missing. As per the reports, this widespread flooding was worst than the torrential rains that hit the nation back in 2003. The further reports claim that more than 1,800 homes were damaged and near to 442,000 lives have been affected.

The disaster was so intense that some places were even 18-feet under water and the rescue team had to send boats to search for the survivors. Indian as well as Pakistan naval ships arrived at the island with medical supplies and also helped the victims to reach the safer places.

In the midst of this, their Lions (the national cricket team) are plying their trade in the ICC Champions Trophy and are up against one of the firm favourites of the tournament, South Africa. Winning the toss first, the Lankan Lions – who certainly are the underdogs of the tournament – decided to field first. Well, that was a usual sight seeing them coming on to the field, but what has made them odd in today’s fixture is the fact that they are wearing a black armband. The reason is that the Slankans are paying tribute to the ones who lost their lives on this deadly disaster.

Sri Lankan stand-in captain Upul Tharanga has won the toss and elected to field first in the first match of Gropu B encounter of the 2017 edition of ICC Champions Trophy between South Africa and Sri Lanka at Kensington Oval in London. Sri Lanka are playing three seamers while Lasith Malinga is back in the playing XI as well.

AB de Villiers says that they wanted to bowl first as well but says that they are well prepared for the game and hopes to do little damage in the 1st two overs itself. Says that they are very excited for the tournament and they’re ready to go. Morne Morkel is in along with David Miller in the team.

South Africa and Sri Lanka will meet in the first match of Group B at the Kensington Oval in London in the 2017 edition of the ICC Champions Trophy. South Africa will start the match as heavy favourites against a Sri Lankan unit without their influential skipper Angelo Mathews and a team which is in transition.

South Africa head into the tournaments as one of the favourites to lift the trophy, but they will have the tag of perennial chokers hanging over their heads. They will have to show mental steel and resolve in the big moments, which they have failed to do on many occasions, in order to go all the way in the tournament.

Sri Lanka on the other hands don’t have the weight of expectations hanging over their heads, which could well turn out to be a massive bonus for them. They will feel that with other teams taking them lightly, they could deliver a heavy jolt to them.

Former Sri Lanka skipper Kumar Sangakkara on Tuesday said defending champions India were capable of retaining the Champions Trophy title as they were a better-balanced unit with “real firepower in their fast bowling”.

“This year we have four Asian teams in the tournament and clearly India is current the pack-leaders in the region. It won in 2013 and it has a team capable of winning this year too,” Sangakkara wrote in his column in ICC website.

“In fact, the team is arguably stronger, better balanced with real firepower in its fast bowling. Its spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja are exceptional in ODI cricket and I am sure Virat Kohli is going to be desperate to bounce back after a disappointing IPL,” he added.

The wicketkeeper-batsman, however, felt that India’s selection was a “little conservative”.

“The only slight concern I have for India is that its selection was perhaps a little conservative, but it is still very strong,” he said.

The 39-year-old picked India as one of his favourite teams to make the semifinals of the upcoming tournament, starting on June 1.

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